


Shadow's Stray Secrets

by Durkadur-P (Durkadur)



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Dark Hour, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery, Personas, Plot-heavy, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-08
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 05:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/557443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Durkadur/pseuds/Durkadur-P
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You’re so ridiculously perfect in every, single, situation. Every girl must want you…” The shadow licked his lips, then he smirked. “I want you too, you know.”</p><p>Yosuke Hanamura, already in a fragile state, awakens to his potential and experiences the Dark Hour for the first time. To his luck, this also awakens his shadow inside him. And, of all people, it is Yu Narukami that saves him with the ability of "Persona". While he understands close to nothing, and wants to figure it out, the words left by his Shadow will not be forgotten easily by anyone, and adding Yosuke to the team does not seem like a good choice for the team leader.</p><p>(P3/P4 Crossover. Will contain an even amount of characters from both, though will start out predominantly P4ish for plot purposes. May have all kinds of pairings, but the main focus will be on M/M pairings. Plot-heavy story. And, while it may angst here and there, I promise to give readers a fair and balancing dosage of Persona boys being adorable and cute together.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Awaken

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter does have a depiction of violence with some blood. I, personally, don't feel it is enough for an archive warning (it really isn't that much), though if you are that squishy I have forewarned/prepared you. The depiction of blood and violence will drop after the first chapter.
> 
> Also, not too good at writing fighting scenes, ^.^;
> 
> Sorry!

Yosuke wiped his eyes with his already-wet jacket sleeve, trying his hardest not to cry. He was in public, and his favourite diner, too; he needed to pretend like everything was cool, but he could still feel his eyes water. He usually liked to sit at the bar if he was alone, but today he sat in the far back. He ignored his feelings, thoughts, and what-have-you’s and looked at the rich, aromatic and mouth-watering seafood udon beneath him. It looked good, _really_ good. He grabbed the wooden chopsticks on his side and slipped them out of their thin, white cover. Grabbing both sticks with one hand each, he pulled apart and snapped them perfectly.

The quick sound of the snapping, however, reverberated over and over, and when Yosuke looked down at his udon, it had turned into a grotesque bowl of dark red liquid.

“Ack!” He shouted, instantly standing up. “Holy shit!” He screamed, backing up and knocking over his chair and it smacked the floor, reverberated throughout the small room just as hauntingly. “What the hell, man, this is a bowl of bloo—ah,” Yosuke’s face suddenly lost all colour.

The chef was no longer the smiling man who he expected to see, but was now an obsidian coffin, standing taller than the man should have been, looming over Yosuke.

The brunet glanced around to see all the other patrons were the same coffins, the walls were green, and there were splashes of blood all over the floor.

“Don’t cry, _princess_.”

Yosuke shrieked loudly at the voice. Not only because the voice, itself, was eerie, but because he knew that belonged to—it was _his_  own voice.

He stared at himself.

The other Yosuke was completely identical, with one difference: the other Yosuke had demonic amber eyes and they instantly furrowed. “You really get freaked over everything—pathetic. You really are such a tool, aren’t you?”

Yosuke stared at shadow, swirling in its own dark aura. He took a step back, but watched his mirror image take a step forward.

“Trying to run? Of course you are. You’re _always_  trying to run.”

“Wh…what?”

The shadow suddenly leapt at immense speed and shoved his fist into Yosuke’s stomach, grinning wildly as he could hear the sound of a bone cracking. With inhuman force, he completed the punch and tossed Yosuke back several feet.

The brunet smacked against the floor, splashing in a pool of blood and cried out in agony. He pushed himself to stand, but leaned over and clutched his stomach. “Who…” he coughed violently, “Who are you?” No matter how many times he tried to blink, the image before him wouldn’t change.

The shadow smirked and walked over to the diner’s bar. He punched through the glass to get the chef’s knife and began tossing the silver blade from one hand to the other, over and over. “Oh come on, you know who I am, don’t you?”

Yosuke felt his eyes go wide as the other male came closer. He instantly turned and started running. Barging out of the door, he wandered into the frosted streets and took several steps before he gasped at the transmogrified moon, beaming yellow as the shadow’s eyes and hanging in the unnatural green sky. He felt surging pain in his stomach and grabbed his shirt, grinding his teeth to suppress the scream scratching his throat.

The shadow followed him, taking his time to walk the distance between them. Playing with the knife in his hand, he laughed. “I could kill you right now. No, I am going to kill you. I can make it slow and painful, but it’ll be quick and easy if you can tell me who I am.”

Without even thinking, Yosuke shouted “I don’t know you!”

“Oh come on, kid. Whose face is this?” The amber-eyed Yosuke grinned menacingly.

“Persona!”

The teen barely had time to turn his head towards the voice when something—no, someone, massive in form, swiped a massive sword at the other brunet.

The shadow back-flipped out of the way of the persona’s blade and dodged a second horizontal strike. “Tch.”

“Yosuke!” Yu shouted, making his way over to the brunet.

Said brunet, however, was just wide-eyed in shock. He was dreaming. It had to be. Yu was here?

A girly scream suddenly made both of them snap, “Senpai!”

Yu pulled out his katana and moved in front of Yosuke to parry the shadow’s strike, counterattacking swiftly with enough force to send the shadow back several feet.

The shadow caught himself on the ground and smirked, “You’re not bad, but of course you’re not.” He suddenly frowned, “Good for nothing little twerp!” He shouted, jumping and striking downwards at the other teen.

Yu stepped back in time, and with momentum, he twirled and gave a curt slash.

The shadow parried, “You’re good at everything, aren’t you? There’s nothing you can do that no one else can, is there?” He laughed, “I should just fucking kill you! I hate your guts!” Yosuke’s shadow suddenly pushed with his knife to break the lock and struck at the teen.

Yu’s eyes went wide, and he ignored Rise’s screams until a bloody slash ripped into his shoulder. He instantly fell to one knee and clutched the wound as the knife was pulled out. His eyes, instead of turning to the attacker, suddenly looked at the real Yosuke with pain and confusion.

Yosuke didn’t know what to say, but he saw the shadow raise his knife for one last strike. The next thing he saw, however, was another one of those, cyborg-things, suddenly cut through the air, smashing into the shadow and sending him flying.

“Alright, Hermes!” Junpei raised his fist in the air as he called his persona behind him.

“Narukami-kun!”

Yosuke recognized that voice. He turned his head to Yukiko—Yukiko of all people!—pull out a gun and point it to her head. Oh god, he suddenly gasped. She was going to shoot herself, “No don’t!” He yelled at her.

But her mind was too focused, “Konohana-Sakuya!” She pulled the trigger and smashed her psyche, shattering it into an assortment of floral pink and crimson ruby crystals that twirled around her. In half a second, the shards came together and her persona took a physical form. Giving a twirl, it aimed its delicate hands at Yu and released a warm, gentle light.

Yu’s shoulder began to glow and he stood up, keeping his eyes to the ground.

The shadow gave a frown, “Five of you on me, tch. That’s fair!” He swore, glaring at them all.

Five? Yosuke took the time to count. There was Yu, Junpei, Yukiko, himself—all of whom he could name, and went to high school with (this had to be a dream), and then he saw a girl, who he presumed was the one who called out earlier, with some kind of visor on her head—or the visor was actually another cyborg-thing with an antenna for a head.

Rise suddenly gave a worried frown, “Senpai… he’s strong, really strong. He’s a complete anomaly… this shadow…” Rise whispered. “Fuuka, do you sense anything? I can’t get any kind of reading!”

The shadow chuckled and looked at Yosuke, “Would you look at that! She’s even got the ability to scan people, and not even she can understand you, pathetic little thing. Why don’t you hurry up and die? It’s not like anyone wants you, anyway!” He shouted loudly.

“Yo, Yu,” Junpei bit his lip, “We have to end this quickly, man!”

“Yeah.” Yu took his eyes off the ground and called Izanagi behind him.

“So cool and collected,” the shadow muttered loud enough that they could hear. “You’re so ridiculously perfect in every, single, situation. Every girl must want you…” The shadow licked his lips, then he smirked. “I want you too, you know.”

Yosuke suddenly felt his cheeks burn, and he looked over to Yu who was staring right at him. What? It wasn’t like he was saying those things, yet his heart was beating faster and his face was flushed. The only thing he knew was that where they were was not the place for that train of thought.

“You know what I want to do with you?” The shadow suddenly bit his lip.

“He’s buying time! Sensei!” Rise’s shouting was loud enough to make them all snap out of it.

“Izanagi!” Yu shouted, swiping his hand to the side as his persona unleashed a bolt of lightning.

Yosuke dodged it with incredible speed. He saw Hermes coming in for another attack and ducked under it, kicking into the air to dodge Yukiko’s Agilao. He twirled in the air, rather gracefully, and landed on the roof of the diner. His head snapped towards the group of them. He kicked off the roof and aimed for his other self.

The brunet suddenly froze as his shadow cut through the wind and almost plunged the knife into his heart. He barely registered that Yu’s cyborg-thing had knocked him out of the way.

“Stop interfering,” the shadow yelled, “Not everything is about you, Narukami! He doesn’t even want you in his life!”

Yosuke suddenly frowned, “Wh-what?” He got up to his feet, “You don’t know anything about me!”

“Oh really?”

“Yosuke, wait!” Junpei shouted.

“Face it, Yosuke.” The shadow continued, drowning out everyone else’s voice. “I am you.”

Yosuke blinked; did he just hear that right? That thing was him? “That doesn’t make any sense!”

“But you can’t deny it… I am you, and everything I’ve said is what you really want to say. Now you’re going to hide behind others and run away like you were already doing,” the shadow laughed. “You’re nothing but a useless fucking tool… Trust me!” He laughed, “I would know—I am you!”

“No!” Yosuke fell to his knees, grabbing his head. That’s not how he felt, that wasn’t right!

“Yosuke listen to me!” Yu tried to interrupt.

“Hanamura!”

“You’re _not…_ ” Yosuke felt Yu grab his arm, but he pushed the silver haired teen away, taking a couple steps forward.

“Yes?”

_“You’re not me!”_

The shadow closed his eyes as his hair fluttered. Dark swirling winds began to surround him, “That’s right… not anymore. I don’t need you anymore!” He cackled wildly as his eyes light up, entire body surging with power. He turned towards his yellow moon, “Freedom, finally!”

“Senpai!” Rise yelled, “I think he’s going to—!” She suddenly screeched as a blast of wind knocked her over.

With Yukiko turned to heal Rise, the shadow leapt up and kicked Hermes in the face, sending both the persona and Junpei back. He landed on the ground and whipped his knife at Yosuke, letting it fly through the air as he suddenly turned from the group and darted away.

Yu shoved Yosuke away from harm, once again, and suddenly felt the flying knife land and slice into his rib. He grabbed the hilt, as he cried out.

And the same time he screamed, the streetlights went on, the moon became white, the sky was blue, the blood on the floor was gone—the Dark Hour had ended.

Yosuke wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, until he saw all of their cyborg-things disappear.

Yu screamed, pulling the knife out of his side and throwing it to the ground.

“Yukiko!” Junpei shouted, “Do something! Heal him!”

“I can’t!” She squeezed her grip on her evoker, eyes going wide, “You know I can’t use my persona without the Dark Hour!”

Junpei looked through his bag, trying to find anything he could use.

“We have to get Senpai back to the dorm!” Rise shouted, “Him too!”

Yosuke suddenly looked at the girl, and his jaw dropped. Okay, this was a dream, he blinked. Risette was here too. This was a dream. It had to be.

First a mirror of him, then cyborgs come, Yukiko shoots herself in the head, more cyborgs, that mirror turns out to actually be him, then a teen pop-star and idol is now worried about his safety while the guy he likes just got stabbed by a thrown knife.

 **“Wake up!”** Yosuke clutched his head, not understanding a thing. 


	2. Awkward, Awkward, Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Yosuke's first dark hour...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me a while to get this one out! I did manage to do story planning for a good five chapters or so, so it shouldn't take too long for the next ones!

Yosuke stood near the entrance of the room and looked around as the group of them that had gathered were in a flurry of movements. It was the first floor of their dorm, or so he assumed, and it was an inviting lounge area, kind of, but he stood completely still.

Junpei was complaining over a nasty cut he got. Risette was telling him not to be a baby. Some teal-haired girl was trying to treat Yukiko, but apparently she wasn’t good at being a medic, or something, because Yukiko’s polite protests kept increasing.

One of the girls, tall and lean, around their age, had very light crimson hair flowing down her waist, tied up in at neck height. “Artemisia.” She spoke at an even tone, but her presence seemed to silence everyone in the dorm.

Again with the cyborgs, Yosuke noted, but then his eyes widened. He didn’t know how he could tell, but this one was much more powerful than the others.

Fitted into a dark navy, silk, flowing robe, which fluttered gently, then clad overtop in glowing iron armor, the red-masked persona grabbed her whip and swiftly tugged on it, rattling the chains. White energy peeled off her form and made its way to the wounded silver haired male sitting on the couch.

“How’s that?” Mitsuru asked. Her tone was soft, caring, but it held authority—she spoke much like an older sister would.

“A lot better,” Yu sighed, releasing the clutch on his wound. “Could you give me one more?”

“Of course.”  

Yosuke wondered if she was their leader as he watched the scene unfold again, white energy—a healing spell, he presumed—being cast by that powerful cyborg onto his friend. He stayed silent, watching them converse, until the red-haired woman turned to him.

“Hanamura, was it?”

“Y-yeah.” He felt his throat tighten. The way she held herself, and especially with that cyborg behind her, it was like the girl was on a completely different plane of existence. He felt small, inferior, but he forced a crooked smile.

The girl’s red lips turned into a soft smile, “I am Mitsuru Kirijo, of the Kirijo group.” She motioned to the sofa across from the one Yu was sitting in. “Seeing how your shadow has been released, it would be best if we explained everything to you.”

Kirijo? Yosuke sat on the seat the woman motioned to and stared at her one more time. Yosuke swallowed hard. He knew who he was dealing with, of course. She was their student council president, a member of the Kirijo group, and quite the popular lady with the boys. It was near impossible to go into the change rooms after gym class and not hear her name be called (usually followed with whistles and howls). He would have already been nervous and uncomfortable around her, but with that massive cyborg, and the fact that she had a gun on her hip…

“Um,” Yukiko quickly interrupted. “Do you need me anymore, or…?”

“Get some rest,” Yu noticed her exhaustion and flashed her a smile. “Good work today.”

“Whoo!” Junpei cried out, “Man, I’m beat!”

Risette beamed, “Me toooo!”

Yosuke watched everyone slowly filter out of the room, leaving only Mitsuru, Yu and himself. And the towering Artemisia.

“Do you want me here?” The silver haired spoke in a tone that Yosuke had never heard him speak in before. Was he nervous?

“I would assume so,” Mitsuru seemed to noticed it as well, but drew it no attention. “If his shadow yields a persona, we could use another persona-user.”

“Right,” Yu nodded, seeming uneasy. His eyes glanced to the coffee table between the two sofas then looked off to the side.

Mitsuru spent a moment glancing at Yu, before turning back to Yosuke. She pushed down on the cushions and repositioned herself. Suddenly, Artemesia faded away as if she had never been there. Crossing her legs, she smoothed her skirt. “What you experienced was the Dark Hour.” She gave it a moment to sink in, “It is a space in time that only those with ‘potential’ can experience. It is hidden from the rest of the world.”

“Uh… okay…?”

Yu seemed to snicker at that, and his lips curved into a soft smile, but he kept his eyes away.

“It is what exists between one day and the next. Between 11:59 PM, and 12:00 AM, there is a hidden hour. I know this is not completely easy to believe, but you saw it for yourself. An hour that only we can experience.”

“So that’s… that’s why like, everything turned green, and there was blood and… and why the others turned into, coffins?” Yosuke gulped.

“Yes.” Mitsuru nodded, “Those without the potential transmogrify into coffins, and that’s why we don’t remember the Dark Hour before getting our potential. But, it does exist.”

“It will happen again tomorrow night, and the night after, and the night after that.” Yu cut in, finally looking over to Yosuke. “During the Dark Hour, shadows manifest. The only effective way to fight them is by using a persona.”

Yosuke felt really stupid, but with Mitsuru’s smile he felt it was okay not to know. “Those cyborg things?”

Yu chuckled and nodded, “Yeah.”

Yosuke crossed his arms, “So uh, how do I get one?”

“The strength of heart required to face oneself must be made to manifest,” Mitsuru could tell that the brunet understood nothing, and she smiled. “It will make sense if it happens.”

“That’s not fair,” Yosuke frowned, “Can’t you give me a hint or something?”

Mitsuru chuckled and shrugged, “Your shadow is… How should I put it? It is your supressed side—all the things you never want anyone to know. It’s all your secrets, all your hidden feelings. Everything you hide away.” She stared at him, “You have to accept your shadow, but telling you this won’t make it easier.”

“But, my shadow was crazy—none of that crap was true.” Yosuke looked over to Yu, and suddenly his cheeks flushed. “Whatever he said, that’s totally not true.”

Yu looked away, coughing awkwardly. “Denial will only make it harder, and make him stronger. Your shadow’s only objective is to completely eliminate you and take your place. It’s the price you pay for keeping everything inside.”

“But that’s not how I feel!” Yosuke almost shouted, cheeks going bright red.

For a moment, he forgot Mitsuru was also there until she spoke again, “Sometimes, the shadow can warp certain thoughts, or take small things to the extreme, but…”

“But your shadow will only say what you have been bottling up,” Yu finished her sentence.

Mitsuru nodded, “I’ve never heard of a berserked shadow escaping, and I’m no completely sure what it means. I think it would be best if you stayed the night here, Hanamura. We have a free room on the second floor, first one on the right.”

Yu snapped his head to look at her, “But that’s…”

“He left some stuff there, but he’s no longer a residence of this dorm, and no longer a member of SEES.” She tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ear and sighed. She avoided eye contact for whatever reason and hugged her other arm. “There’s so much more to explain, but it can wait until later. For now, we should all get some sleep—we do have school tomorrow.”

Yu groaned but nodded. “Yeah.” He stood up, “I’ll be in the room next to yours. Knock if you need anything.”

 

* * *

 

Yosuke was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The room was dark, the streets were quiet, but still he couldn’t sleep. His mind was racing.

When you faced your shadow, you got a persona.

Personas are the best way to fight shadows.

Shadows are suppressed thoughts.  
  


_“You’re good at everything, aren’t you? There’s nothing you can do that no one else can, is there?” He laughed, “I should just fucking kill you! I hate your guts!”_  
  


“Ugh.” Yosuke groaned, “No wonder he didn’t even look at me… but, that’s not how I feel about it. Is it?” The brunet thought hard about it. “No, it isn’t. Honestly.” He wasn’t even trying to convince himself.

Mitsuru had said that certain things could be exaggerated, or maybe warped. Was that one of them?  
  


_“So cool and collected,” the shadow muttered loud enough that they could hear. “You’re so ridiculously perfect in every, single, situation. Every girl must want you…” The shadow licked his lips, then he smirked. “I want you too, you know.”_  
  


“Oh, fuck…” Yosuke remembered that one line and pushed his hands onto his face. “That’s why he was staring at me like that the whole fight…” He groaned and rolled over, shoving his face into the pillow.

He must have lain there for another ten minutes before he thought back to his shadow. It escaped. Apparently that was something new. For all the shadows they fought, his was special. And while Yosuke liked being special as much as the next person, this made his stomach squeeze.

“So it’s like, out there.” He murmured.

What if it came back?

Its goal would be to kill him, right?

He slipped out of the warm bed and opened the door. Before he could stop himself, he opened the door next to his and peeked in. “H-hey.”

“Yosuke?” Yu’s voice seemed hesitant.

“Yeah, it’s me.” He slipped inside the room, closing the door behind him. He was against the wall for a moment or so before he moved to sit on Yu’s bed. He wasn’t sure if he should do this, and a large part of his brain was screaming at him to shut up and go back to sleep.

Yu pulled himself up, “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t sleep…” Yosuke scratched his elbow, wishing he had come a little bit more prepared. “I just, I don’t know. I guess I’m afraid.”

Yu didn’t respond for a while, then moved so he was sitting next to Yosuke. “Afraid of what?”

“My shadow wants to kill me, right?” He turned to the other and his cheeks flushed, noticing Yu was shirtless, wearing only pair of loose boxers. He noticed that he, himself, was only in a shirt and boxers, but he was thankful that the dark hid his cheeks. “Am I safe here?”

“Shadows only come out during the Dark Hour.” Yu smiled, “You’re safe until the next one. Strong shadows also tend to stay and wait for you to go to them, so we won’t face your other self until you’re ready.”

“Oh, okay.” Yosuke nodded. “About what my shadow said—”

“We don’t have to talk about it now.” Yu interjected too quickly.

“Well, I mean, he got some stuff wrong, I just wanted to set it straight—”

“It’s fine,” Yu awkwardly interrupted, again. “We can talk about it later.”

Yosuke nodded, and then realised Yu probably couldn’t see him nod in the dark. “S-sure. I just want to say that you’re a good friend—and, yeah, I mean, I don’t hate you or anything like that.”

“W-we can talk later.”

 Yosuke noted the stutter and nodded again, “Y-yeah, sorry. I’m just, damn this is weird…” After an awkward silence, he got up. “Sorry, I’m just gonna go.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” Awkward, awkward, awkward, Yosuke gulped as he slipped into the hallway. When he did, he suddenly felt his chest squeeze. Someone was watching him. There was no end to this, Yosuke bit his lip.

He reasoned with himself not to run back into Yu’s room and scream like a girl, and told himself his mind was playing tricks with him. Shoving himself back on the vacant bed in the room he had given, he sighed. “Just sleep. Everything will be easier tomorrow.”


End file.
